The undertaking will allot 10 buses of this type that will bring respite to the business district of BKC, which sees a daily footfall of two to two and a half lakh. BEST officials said these buses will be stationed at Kurla depot from where it will be operated on BKC route.

Mumbai, India - February 17, 2023: BEST held trial run of its electric air-conditioned (AC) double-decker bus on the road, at Marine Drive, in Mumbai, India, on Friday, February 17, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times)

Mumbai: For the first time, air-conditioned electric double-decker buses will start operating on Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) route starting next month, according to Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking.

Over the last five months, BEST had been struggling to procure these e-buses because of the delay by the manufacturers in delivering them.

The undertaking will allot 10 buses of this type that will bring respite to the business district of BKC, which sees a daily footfall of two to two and a half lakh. BEST officials said these buses will be stationed at Kurla depot from where it will be operated on BKC route.

“Next month, we expect 18 AC double-decker e-buses to be delivered, of which eight are expected to join the fleet in the first week of September. The remaining 10 e-buses will be inducted by late September. These e-buses will be operated on the BKC route,” said a BEST official.

Recently, BEST undertaking was under fire for registering these new AC double-decker e-buses as ‘red-colour’ although it’s a combination of red and black colours.

Hindustan Times has extensively brought forth the troubles faced by scores of people who struggle with their daily travel to and from BKC. The unruly autorickshaw drivers have been a hindrance to the extent that BEST had to curtail some of their bus services passing via Bandra railway station.

Now that the AC double-decker buses will be introduced on this route, it gives a fighting chance for BEST to retain their road presence and fight-off the autorickshaw drivers who indulge in risky driving and park haphazardly on the roads.

As the centre of business has shifted to BKC, and with more and more corporate offices moving there, an upgrade in public transport is needed.

At present, the bus route number 310 operates from Bandra rail terminus to Kurla station via BKC. There are also single-decker AC buses and grey-and-yellow-coloured hybrid single-decker buses that ferry people in this business district.

The current fleet of 12 AC double-decker e-buses are plying in south Mumbai connecting areas of CSMT, Churchgate, Nariman Point, Gateway of India on two different bus routes of 115 and 138.

Sources said that with more of these AC double-decker buses joining their fleet, they will be operating them every 30 minutes on the existing south Mumbai route.

Sources said there are currently 12 AC double-decker e-buses in the fleet, four more will be added soon and 18 new ones will join the fleet starting next month.

These will be added to their current fleet of 3,052 BEST buses. At present, the bus to passenger ratio stands at 1:4,193.

BEST unions said the number of BEST-owned buses will drop to a mere 1,100 buses in the next few weeks as it keeps scrapping 100-150 buses every few months.

BEST officials said that they will be getting 2,100 single-decker AC e-buses, 900 double-decker AC e-buses and have floated tenders for 2,400 single-decker e-buses.

Courtesy: HT, TOI